Canada travelled to Australia in preparation for their 2010 FIVB Men's World Championship

Melbourne, Australia, July 3, 2010 - Canada's men's Volleyball team defeated Australia twice in two days to conclude its two-week tour down under on Saturday.

The Canadians, preparing for the FIVB World Championships this September in Italy, also trained in Brisbane and Canberra over the 14 days. They evened the four match series with the Australians with two wins apiece following Saturday's straight sets (25-22, 25-17, 25-16) victory. The Aussies won the opening two matches before Canada roared back with the two victories in Melbourne.

"We had a balanced team attack which was anchored by the serve reception of Winters, Raymond and van Lankvelt," said Canada’s assistant coach Larry McKay. "Our team block-defence on the right side attack of the Australians was also handled better today."

Although the first set was close, the Canadians led from start to go ahead 8-5 and 16-11 at the technical time-outs. The score was close through most of the second set with Canada up 8-7 and 16-13 at the technical time outs before Canada closed out with an 11-4 run to finish the set. In the third, the Canadians outscored the Aussies 13-6 to finish off the match.

"We showed improvement each day," added McKay. "The Australians were an impressive team and we used our training time wisely to get our game up to the level we expected of ourselves."

The Canadian team will now have two-week period to train on their own. The team reassembles at their training base in Gatineau on July 20 for the final push towards the World Championships.